Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Graduate student reconsidering move from St. Louis to Milwaukie, seeking advice on pros and cons of living in Milwaukie, St. Louis compared to Milwaukie
Hello all. I was just accepted to graduate school at Marquette. A friend moved to MKE about a year ago and when I visited I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Now, after reading a lot of these posts, I'm worried I may be making the wrong decision...
I'm coming from STL, which a lot of people consider to be similar to Milwaukee.... the reason I wanted to go away for grad school is because St. Louis seems like a giant fishbowl...everyone knows each other (the whole "high school" deal), and I just thought now would be a perfect time to try something new. It seems, however (from what I've read), that a good deal of people seem to think MKE lacks amenities, has horrible weather, bleak job prospects, etc. (I'm not worried about crime- I live in downtown STL now and I figure I can handle anything if I use common sense.)
Am I crazy for wanting to move here? I've read all the posts comparing MKE to STL and it seems like many people favor STL....(just from what I've read, I am not assuming) I'm looking for some hope here---I'm 23 and ready to start school and have some fun in a new city....help!
I've never been to St. Louis but I think Milwaukee's a great city!! It doesn't seem like a city where "Everyone knows each other", especially if you didn't grow up or go to school here. Half the year is pretty darn cold but you will have so much fun in the summer, it will make surviving the bitter cold worthwhile. Marquette is a wonderful school-I'm an alumni, so I'm biased-but I don't think you'll regret your decision. If you're unsure, come for another visit or two before you arrive. It's not like you have to live here forever if you come to MU and decide Milwaukee's not your cup of tea! Best of luck!
By the way, I came to Marquette from another state when I was 18 and I'm still here 20 years later!
Just like in every city there are haters. I moved back I love it, in summer/fall/spring Milwaukee is truly great it's only in winter it suck b/c of the weather. Your making the right decision.
Weather is always a huge exaggeration in wintertime. If it every winter were as bad as it was this past January, I'm pretty sure there would be no one left. That's far from the case.
What sort of amenities are you looking for? I'm not terribly familiar with St Louis by any means (been there once about 10 years ago) but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anything there that Milwaukee severely lacks, outside of the Arch and suburban sprawl on 3 sides instead of 4 (God bless that Lake).
Go with your instinct. If you need a break from STL, Milwaukee is as good of choice as any.
I came here for a job about 8 years ago, and I really like it here. Milwaukee has lots to do, a sense of history, interesting neighborhoods, and many other great things besides. Sure, the weather isn't like San Diego, and the shopping isn't like Paris, and the entertainment isn't New York City, and the academic environment isn't like Boston, but Milwaukee still has a good showing in all of those categories, plus it's affordable and easy to navigate. I really lucked out in my job search.
Hello all. I was just accepted to graduate school at Marquette. A friend moved to MKE about a year ago and when I visited I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Now, after reading a lot of these posts, I'm worried I may be making the wrong decision...
I'm coming from STL, which a lot of people consider to be similar to Milwaukee.... the reason I wanted to go away for grad school is because St. Louis seems like a giant fishbowl...everyone knows each other (the whole "high school" deal), and I just thought now would be a perfect time to try something new. It seems, however (from what I've read), that a good deal of people seem to think MKE lacks amenities, has horrible weather, bleak job prospects, etc. (I'm not worried about crime- I live in downtown STL now and I figure I can handle anything if I use common sense.)
Am I crazy for wanting to move here? I've read all the posts comparing MKE to STL and it seems like many people favor STL....(just from what I've read, I am not assuming) I'm looking for some hope here---I'm 23 and ready to start school and have some fun in a new city....help!
Many thanks in advance
I believe this one was set up on a tee for me. I've lived in both places. I'll do my best with your questions and comments.
1) Congrats, Marquette is a fine school. Make sure you attend basketball games, especially v good opponents and conference games. It's quite the atmosphere, and you'll be glad and better for the experience. Lots of school spirit and a fine basketball program. Marquette and SLU are very similar schools in tons of ways. The biggest difference is that Marquette has a lot more school spirit, mostly due to its basketball program.
2) Don't judge a place by a few random posts on a message board. That'd be a big mistake. Milwaukee does have some of the same things you mentioned about "Harry High School Syndrome" as I like to call it in reference to St. Louis. St. Louis and Milwaukee are open to outsiders, however, you must do the work often times and that is off putting I agree. Lots of Milwaukeans, though not all nor most, and lots of St. Louisans, though not all nor most, have had the same friends seemingly since grade school, high school etc...and it can be challenging to break into that crowd. You'll find this a lot in the Twin Cities too. People are polite and friendly, but they don't necessarily seek or want a new person to the group, though they are not opposed to such either. This does happen despite what anyone else will tell you. It's very real and not an illusion. However, you need to explore the parts of Milwaukee (and St. Louis for that matter) where that is not the case to get some balance.
3) Milwaukee has amentities that will suit your needs just fine. You are 23, and as a 23 year old, I'd tell you to live in the city of Milwaukee just as I would tell you to live in the city of St. Louis. You'll find more St. Louisans living in the inner rung burbs such as Clayton and near there, U.City, Brentwood, etc..than you will find in comparison with Milwaukee. "The" places to live in Milwaukee for your age, are urban. This can also be said for St. Louis too, but Milwaukee does a better job of stringing together urban neighborhoods from downtown to Milwaukee's East Side, than does St. Louis. St. Louis is bigger and more spread out. Milwaukee is very compact, and that's a plus for a 23 year old looking to socialize from Bayview, to 5th Ward, to 3rd Ward, to Milwaukee Ave, Water Street, other parts of downtown, Brady Street, Riverwest, North Ave, etc.......It would be as if Washington Ave, Soulard, U. City, The Grove, South Grand etc..and so on were much closer together, and in between there were less areas of urban decay.
4) St. Louis has nothing like Lake Michigan views and the 100 foot bluffs overlooking the water up and down the Lakefront.
5) It is true that regular every day life amentities are more plentiful in Stl, however, this shouldn't be an issue for you.
6) Weather has been exhausted. I have no idea what kind of weather person you are. If you are near the Lake, the summer breeze and 70's temps are splendid. Dec, Jan, Feb are rough, as in cold and windy, with much more snow than Stl. March could be considered a winter weather month too. April and May are cooler Spring weather months. June-Sept is Summer type weather, sunny and warmer. Fall is early and shorter, but again, nice. The overall weather is not a major adjustment from Stl. An adjustment and diffferent, yes.
7) In the grand scheme of life, Milwaukee and St. Louis are not all that radically different from each other and have lots of similarities. And for a 23 year old, while Columbia isn't a bad road trip, Madison is better and closer to Mil than Stl is to Columbia. And, unlike the Stl, where the next major big city is 235 miles to KC, Chicago is 90 miles away, an easy day trip, overnight, or weekend trip. The weather there is about the exact same as Milwaukee most of the time.
8) Crime you have covered. Use common sense and you won't be having problems. Marquette is very good about safety. It isn't located in the most desirable part of town, ...what Jesuit school is for that matter...however the campus and immediate areas around it are safe and filled with students, just use your head with common sense. The "desirable" locales are a quick, short ride away to downtown and East Side, etc...sort of the distance of SLU to downtown Stl.
9) Don't know what you are studying, or your goals, etc...for work.
10) I'd take Milwaukee over Stl as a twenty something, and Stl over Milwaukee as a kid growing up or raising a kid, but again, comparable places generally speaking imo.
I'd have zero hesitation if I was in your position. None.
Last edited by Fishtacos; 02-18-2009 at 04:55 PM..
Fishtaco's post is dead-on. I can't add too much more.
You cited "amenities, weather, and bleak job prospects"...
Amenities -
I am not sure what posts you are necessarily referencing from folks, however, I think Milwaukee has tremendous amenities, especially for a city of its size.
You've got a small but busy international airport (with great access), Major League Baseball in the world-class Miller Park, the NBA, NFL football only 80 miles or so up the road (in world famed Lambeau Field), an underrated symphony orchestra, a beautiful art museum, tons of different "arts" options, etc.
There are almost more restaurants here than some cities 33% larger, and the diversity of ethnic cuisine is pretty amazing considering this isn't Chicago in terms of size. Bars? Gee whiz, this *is* Milwaukee after all!!
I mean, Milwaukee is a metro of 1.5 million or so so again, this isn't DFW or Chicago in terms of amenities. But then again, I can't think of an amazing amount of *extra amenities* that a Chicago would have that we don't here. Granted, Chicagoland may have 3 kajillion Thai restaurants and us only 50 or so, or it has two major airports to our one mid-sized one, or it may have 500 "clubs" to our 25 or whatever, however, I don't think Milwaukee lacks much at all for conventional amenities.
And remember, Chicago is a mere skip down the road, so if there is some unique amenity out there that for whatever reason you can't find here, it is merely a hop and a skip into a world-class sized city.
Weather -
I break with some folks here, as I am not a fan in the least. Mid-NOV through early-APR here is largely a big turn off for me (although the cold in snow around Thanksgiving / Christmas when it is still somewhat "new" isn't horrible).
However, I am a bit older than you (low-30s) and thus have a job/own a house, etc. When I was 23 and in school or shortly out of school (I lived here back then too), winter wasn't as big of a deal as I didn't have to worry as much about daily commuting, extremely high gas/electric bills, house insulation and maintenance, shoveling, etc.
I think if you are living down near MU in an apartment, etc., winter, while still long and harsh possibly, isn't *as big* a consideration.
One thing to consider weather-wise though is that while winters are worse here than StL's and overall I prefer StL's climate, unless you like ultra-hot and humid, you'll find MKE's summers far, far more pleasant and enjoyable than StL's - it is rare in MKE to hit 90 degrees for a high, the humidity is nothing like StL's humidity most of the summer, and you'll have extremely many days in the summer here were it is in the 70s and low 80s and very enjoyable.
It is certainly colder here than StL and springs / falls shorter, (the ideal weather-month here in my opinion is September...just a gorgeous month in MKE), however, as Fishtacos noted, I think coming from StL, it won't be a terribly earth-shattering significant change. You may (or may not) after a few years find yourself really missing StL's climate, but it isn't like you are coming from Miami or Dallas or Phoenix where it is a night-and-day different climate.
(Also as Fishtacos noted, MKE's climate is nearly identical to Chicago's. So if you'd be okay with Chicago's, there'd be no reason to fear here).
Bleak job prospects -
Well, I this week received *by far* easily the best professional offer / oppty of my life in this area, so I guess this somewhat boils down to the individual.
I will say that job prospects are currently pretty darn bleak for many in many, many (if not most) areas. Such is the way of the current economy, as bad as its been since '81 or so.
I don't know...Milwaukee's job pool is smaller than a StL, however, then again, the amount of fish fighting for jobs are fewer as well. I haven't been here my whole professional life, but that for what I have, I have never struggled tremendously to get a decent job. Sure, sometimes the salaries haven't been *quite* to the par I would've hoped, but some of that is on me, and some of that is offset by a reasonable cost of living.
I agree with the others - MU is a very well respected school, its grad programs typically are highly thought of, the city is a *great* town for young-20-somethings looking to work hard but also to enjoy life, etc. etc. etc. I really don't think you could go wrong coming up to MKE and doing MU...in fact, I think you'd end up really enjoying and loving the experience!
hey everyone! thanks so much for all of the good advice....sometimes it just makes you feel better to hear from other people. fishtacos, I've read quite a few of your posts since you seem to be most familiar with the STl-MKE comparison. Thanks!
I'm about 90% sure Ill be heading up that way in June....now i just have to worry about finding a place to live!
One more question: (fishtacos this may be easier for you to answer) I realize MKE has much more snow than St. Louis, but my friend (who recently moved there) says that they do a MUCH better job in terms of clearing the roads, etc. Can anyone echo that statement? Seems like it wouldn't be so bad- the ONLY thing I hate about snow is that I nearly crash whenever I have to drive in it!!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
